Filled-sack-sewing machine.



N0. 639,2l6. Patented Dec. l9, I899.

L. E. CURTES. FILLED SACK SEWING MACHINE.

(Application filed Mar. 27, 1599.

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' E. curms, FILLED SACK SEWING MACHINE.

(Applicatiop filed. Max. 27, 1899.)

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No. 639,2l6.

Patented Dec. l9, I899. L. E. CURTIS.

FILLED SACK SEWING MACHINE.

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' No. 639,2I6. Patented Dec. l9, I899.

L. E. CURTIS. FILLED SACK SEWING MACHINE.

(Application filed Mar. 27, 1899.)

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No. 639,216. Pate'nted Deb. 19, I899.

L. E. CURTIS.

FILLED SACK SEWING MACHINE.

(Application filed Mar. 27, 1899.)

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WITN'ESSESI w: Nonms PETERS co PHom-umo. WASHINGTON D. c

LEWIS E. CURTIS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR FFIQ TO THE TIMEVVELL SACK FILLING AND SEWING MACHINE COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

FlLLED-SACK-SEWING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 639, 1 da ed e e b 1899- Applioation filed M rch 2 7, 1 899.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, LEWIS E. CURTIS, a citi- Zen of the United States, residing in Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Filled-Sack-Sewing Machines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to machines for sewing filled sacks.

Filledsack-sewing machines heretofore in use have employed an opening and closing sack-holder for clamping and holding the mouth edges of the sack closed While being operated upon by the sewing mechanism, said machines being constructed and operating either upon the principle of the Timewell patents, Nos. 476,778, 530,455, 548,029, 562,438, 597,075, 607,809, 607,810, and 607,811, in which the sack-holder has a forward traveling movement past the stitching mechanism and serves to feed or convey the sack-mouth past the needle at the rate the stitching is done, or else operating on the principle of the Becker patents, Nos. 542,54E9, 608,567, 608,638, and 608,639, in which the sack-holder is stationaryand the sewing mechanism is mounted on a movable carriage or slide that travels from one end of the holder to the other at the rate the stitching or sewing is done. In both these types of machines the forward movement or travel of the holder or sewing mechanism, the one in respect to the other, is relied upon to accomplish the feed of the sack-mouth to the needle during the sewing operation and to hold the saclemouth in position against the thrust of the needle, the sewing mechanism itself not having the customary feed device.

The constructing ofafilled-sack-sewing machine with a sack-holder and the necessity for giving either the holder or the sewing mechanism itself a traveling movement to accomplish the feed materially complicates the mechanism of the machine, requires time and labor to insert the sack-mouth in the holder, gives an undesirable rigidity to the fabric of the sack-mouth, especially in withdrawing the needle therefrom, owing to the weight and tension due to the contents of the filled sack, requires nicety of construction and accuracy of adjustment to keep the different parts in proper registry, and renders it impossible to Serial No. 710,588- (No model-i sew the sack near the upper edge of its mouth, thus preventing the full capacity of the sack being utilized.

The object of my invention is to provide a filled-sack-sewing machine of a simple, efficient, cheap, and durable construction by means of which the difiiculties or objections above mentioned may be all overcome and by means of. which sacks, and especially small sacks-such as five-pound, ten-pound, or twenty-five-pound sacks-may be very rapidly and cheaply sewed without danger of tearing the fabric of the sack or breaking the needle, as is unavoidably the case in machines where the mouth of the filled sack is rigidly held in a holder having a positive forward movement'or travel in respect to the sewing mechanism.

My invention consists in the means I employ to practically accomplish this important object or new result-that is to say, it consists in the combination, with a sewing mechanism, of a sack-conveyer upon which the filled sacks rest and are supported in an upright position and an intermittently-operating feed-dog for the sewing mechanism operating in conjunction with a casing on one side of the sack-mouth and a presser-foot on the opposite side thereof to feed the sack-mouth forward step by step the distance of a stitch at each step in unison with the forward movement of the filled sack it is carried along by the conveyer-that is to say, the total amount of forward movement of the feed-dog in a given period is equal to the total forward movement of the sack-conveyer in the same period-said feed being preferably a four-motion feed and operating to feed the sack-mouth forward only at the intervals when the needle is withdrawn therefrom, the feed, the sack-conveyer upon which the sacks rest, and the sewing mechanism all cooperating in proper time with each other.

It also consists in the novel construction of parts and devices and in the novel combinations of parts and devices herein shown and described, and specified in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 is a plan View of a filledsack-sewing machine embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a side elesack-mouth is fed in unison with the needle and with the filled-sack eonveyer. Fig. 10 is a detail section on line 10 10 of Fig. 1; Fig. ll, a detail section on line ll 11 of Fig. at; Fig. 12, a similar view to Fig 10, showing a slight modification; and Fig-13 is a detail section on line 13 13 of Fig. 4. Fig. let is an enlarged view of the parts shown at Fig. 6.

In the drawings, A represents the frame of the machine.

Bis a filled-sack conveyer or carrier, the same consisting, preferably, of an endless belt or apron traveling on horizontal pulleys B 13 so that the sacks resting thereon may be supported in an upright position.

C O are side guides or guards to hold the sacks in an upright position as they are carried forward one after the other by the conveyer. These side guides or guards are preferably sectional, so that they may be attached to the conveyer and move with it instead of being stationary or secured to the frame at each side of the conveyer.

D is the sewing-machine, the same being of any suitable or well-known construction and comprising a needle d and looper d.

F is an intermittently-operating feed-dog having the customary serrations fon its face to engage the fabric of the sack-mouth. The intermittent feed F is preferably of the wellknown four-motion type-that is to say, having a forward reciprocation the length of a stitch to feed the sack-mouth forward, a side movement to withdraw it from the sackmouth, a backward reciprocation to bring it into position for the next forward movement, and a return side movement to bring it again in contact with the fabric of the sackmouth. Theintermittent feed F is mounted within the casing G, the face-plate g of which has a slot g for the feed to project through.

11- is the presser-foot, the same having a curved end it and being secured to reciprocating stem H, which is forced against the sack-mouth by spring 1-1 K is a guide or extension of the casing G, the same having a curved outer end and serving to facilitate the insertion of the sackmouth between the presser-foot on the one side and the casing G and feed F on the other side.

L is a rotating feed-wheel operating, in conjunction With the shoe L, to feed and hold the thread orchain of stitching.

M is a stationary knife or cutter operating, in conjunction with the reciprocating knife or cutter M, to cut the thread or chain of stitching which would otherwise unite the filled sacks after they are sewed.

N N are rotating feed-wheels which serve to carry the sack-mouth and the thread or chain of stitching free from the sewing mechanism.

P and P are two movable arms or levers projecting in the path of the sack-mouth and connected with a clutch mechanism for starting and stopping the sewing mechanism, so that, if desired, the sewing mechanism may be automatically set in motion by the act of inserting the sack-mouth between the presserfoot H and the casing G or its extension K, the arm P serving to move the clutch to set the sewing mechanism in operation and the lever P to stop the same after the sack has passed the needle and the sewing thereof has been completed. The pivoted arms or levers P and P are connected together by a pivoted link P and they are connected by a link P to the operating-arm I of a delicate and easily-operated supplemental clutch Q Q. A spring P serves to retract the supplemental clutch-lever Q Q and hold the pivoted arms P P in position for engaging the sack-mouth.

The clutch Q Q consists of a disk Q, fast on the shaft q, parallel to the main drivingshaft R of the sewing mechanism, and a pulley-hub Q, loose on said shaft. Thepart Q is fixed to the shaft 1 and carriesa friction-band g, which surrounds the hub Q on the clutchdriving pulley qflthe pulley g beingloose upon the shaft q. The ends of the band (1 are connected together by means of a lever g the end of which bears against a projection g upon the clutch member Q. The band is held from embracing the clutch member Q by a projection g upon the strap or band q engaging the forked lever Q \Vhen the fork of the lever Q is moved from engagement with the projection g on the band q, the spring q", together with the resistance of the projection (1 against the lever g upon the clutch member Q, will tighten the band upon the hub Q, thus locking the two together and driving the shaft a half-rotation, when the stop (1 will engage a hook q upon the other fork of the lever Q when the band will be released. The lever Q engages and is operated by the lever P, a very slight force being suificient to oscillate said lever Q and operate this supplemental or auxiliary clutch, which is employed to move the main clutch R by a cam Q on the shaft g by an arm S on the sliding shaft 8, said arm being connected to the main clutch-lever R.

The main clutch R is splined to the drivingshaft R located above the table of the sewing mechanism and engages a clutch member R which is loose on said shaft and fixed to the driving-pulley R". The driving-pulley R has a secondary pulley-face r, carrying a belt r, by which the pulley g is continuously driven.

R is an idle pulley adjacent to the pulley R R is a friction-brake engaging the rear face of the gear R on the driving-shaft R of the sewing mechanism for stopping the sewing mechanism, said friction-brake being con nected to and operated by the sliding shaft S, which is actuated by the cam on the supplemental or auxiliary cl utch-shaft, as before described.

The looper d is preferably a rotating looper and is carried by a shaft al having a gear (Z meshing with an intermediate gear d, which meshes with a gear 61 on the looper-driving shaft T, which is furnished with a bevel-gear T, that meshes with the gear R 011 the driving-shaft R of the sewing mechanism.

The needle 01 of the sewing mechanism is secured to a reciprocating slide or bar (Z which is reciprocated by a pivoted lever d throijigh a connecting-link (Z which is operated by an eccentric T on the shaft T.

The chain take-up or feed wheel L is rotated by a gear L on the shaft of said feed-wheel through gears L L gear L being on the shaft L ,which carries a gear L meshing with a gear L", that meshes with a gear L on the looper-driving shaft T.

The feed-wheel N is contin uouslydri ven by a gearN on the shaft of said feed-wheel meshing with the gear N on the shaft N, which carries a sprocket-wheel N connected by a chain or belt N with a sprocket-wheel N on the worm-shaft 13 through which motion is communicated to the conveyer B.

The four-motion feed-dog F is reciprocated in the direction of the feed by an eccentric f on the looper-driving' shaft T engaging one end of the oscillating leverf, the other end of which is connected to the feed. The feed-dog F is moved or reciprocated sidewise or in and out by a cam f on the looper-driving shaft T, which engages a Slide which has a sliding connection permitting motion at right angles to that of the slide f with the feed-dog F, said sliding connection allowing the feed to reciprocate in the direction that the sack moves.

The conveyer B is preferably driven continuously instead of intermittently, and I have therefore in the drawings shown its driving mechanism connected with the continuously-rotated driving-pulley R instead of being connected directly with the sewing'ma chine driving-shaft R To thus drive the conveyer B, Iprovide the pulley R with a sleeve 0", which is furnished with a worm Z), engaging a worm-gear b on the worm-shaft B which is provided with a bevel-gear b meshing with a gear b on the shaft Ulwhich carries a sprocket-wheel b carrying a belt or chain 19 that engages a pulley orsprocket b on the conveyer-driving shaft b This mechanism thus reduces the motion of the conveyer, so that it carries the filled sacks forward at the same speed that the intermittently-operated feed-dog F feeds forward the sack-mouth.

The movable knife or cutter M is preferably operated automatically to sever the thread or chain of stitching that would otherwise unite the adjacent filled sacks as they are sewed. 'lhiscan most conveniently be done by connecting the reciprocating knifeslide at with the cam Q on the shaft qof the supplemental or auxiliary clutch controlling the stopping and starting of the sewing mechanism. For this purpose the slide at is furnished with a projection or roll m, which fits in the cam.

The operation is as follows The filled sacks or bags are placed in an upright position and closely adjacent to each other on the sack holder or conveyer B, the side guard C serving to prevent the filled sacks from tipping over as they are carried forward by the conveyer to the sewing mechanism. If the sacks are very short in length and are dropped or planted firmly upon the conveyer, the side guards may be unnecessary; butwith taller sacks the side guards are desirable to prevent danger of the filled sacks tipping 'or careening over and spilling theircontents. By placing the filled sacks closely together on the conveyer one after another they tend to mutually support each other and are presented to the sewing mechanism in proper order or with only a short interval between contiguous sacks, so that the sewing mechanism only has to be momentarily stopped after each sack is sewed. If desired, however, the sacks may be deposited on the conveyer with a greater or less interval between them. As each sack approaches the sewing mechanism the attendant or operator grasps the sack-mouth at its forward and rear points andinserts the front edge thereof between the presser-foot H and the casing G, the guide or extension K serving to facilitate the insertion of the sackmouth between the presser-foot on the one side and the casing G and feed'dog F on the other side. As the sack-mouth is thus inserted it engages the arm or lever P, and thus operates the supplemental or auxiliary clutch Q Q and causes the auxiliary clutch-shaft q .and its cam Q to makea halfrevolution, and

thus applies the main friction-clutch R R and starts the sewing mechanism, thus setting the intermittent feed-dog F in operation and causing the sack-mouth to be thereby fed intermittently to the needle and past the same until the sewing operation is com pleted. When the sewed sack-mouth passes the second operating triggerorlever P, the supplemental or auxiliary clutch Q Q is again operated, causing its shaft g and cam to make another half revolution, and thus causing said cam Q at this second half-turn to operate the friction-brake R thus stopping the sewing mechanism until anothersack-mouth is inserted by the operator or attendant between the pre'sser-foot H and the casing G and feed-dog F, when the operation is repeated. At the second half-revolution of the cam Q the movable knife or cutter M is operated and cuts the thread or chain of stitching, thus separating the sack sewed from the chain and from the succeeding sack. The thread or chain take-up or feed wheel L being geared IIO to the looper-driving shaft is operated simultaneously with the sewing mechanism. The chain-feed or take-up L, in conjunction with its cooperating shoe or holder L,serves to hold and feed or take up the chain of stitching and prevent entanglement of the same with the sewing mechanism or needle and looper, while the feed-wheels N N serve to free or discharge the mouth of the sewed sack from the machine. By shifting the driving-belt from the driving-pulley R to the idle pulley R the conveyer B and the'whole machine may be stopped and started as desired or required. As the intermittent feed-dog F operates in conjunction with the needle cl and feeds the sack-mouth forward only at intervals when the needle is withdrawn from the sack-mouth there is no dangerin mymachine of the needle tearing the fabric of the sack or of breaking the needle, and as the feed-dog operates in conjunction with a yielding presser-foot and also intermittently relaxes or. loosens its grasp upon the sack-mouth there is no danger of any undue strain upon the fabric of the sackmouth or upon the needle or sewing mechanism on account of the weight of the sack and the movement of the carrier or conveyer upon which it rests and by which it is moved steadily forward. Although the conveyer thus carries the filled sack positively to and past the sewing mechanism, its cooperative connection with the sewing mechanism is thus such as to enable or cause the sack-mouth to be loosely and freely presented to the sewing mechanism, and thereby entirely preventing and overcoming any undue strain upon the sewing mechanism or upon the fabric of the sack-mouth while being operated upon by the sewing mechanism. My machine is thus caused to operate with ease and perfection in sewing filled sacks.

The side guards C Gare preferably adj ustable to and from each to enable the machine to accommodate sacks of various sizes, they being adjustably secured to the conveyer B by screws 0, and the conveyer B is adjustable up and down in respect to the sewing mechanism to accommodate sacks of different lengths or heights. For this purpose the shafts of the conveyer-pulleys are journaled in adjustable supports B As illustrated in the modification, Fig. 12, the worm through which motion is communicated to the conveyer B is secured to the sewing-mechanism-driving shaft instead of to the continuously rotating driving pulley, which is loose on the shaft. In this construction of my invention, therefore, the conveyor B will be stopped and started simultaneously with the sewing mechanism.

The peripheral speed of the feed-wheels L and N N in a given period is equal to the mean rate of progress of the feed-dog F in the same time, and as the feed-dog acts intermittently its forward movement is at a greater speed than that of the periphery of the feedwheels L and N N, and it produces a slack in the article being operated upon between the feed-dog and the feed-wheels, through which the needle passes, and this slack is all taken up by the feed-wheels at the moment the feed-dog again begins its forward movement.

I claim- 1. The machine for sewing filled sacks, con sisting of a sewing-machine and a feeding mechanism, the latter comprising a powerdriven sack-conveyer upon which the sacks rest in an upright position, and means operating in conjunction with a casing on one side of the sack-mouth and a presser--foot on the opposite side thereof to feed the sackmouth forward intermittently the distance of a stitch at each step at the mean rate of progress of the filled sack as it is carried by said conveyer, substantially as specified.

2. The machine for sewing filled sacks, con sisting of a sewing-machine and a feeding mechanism, the latter comprising a powerdriven sack-conveyer upon which the filled sacks rest in an upright position, and means operating in conjunction with a casing on one side of the sack-mouth and a presser-foot on the opposite side thereof to feed the sackmouth forward intermittently the distance of a stitch at each step, said means for feeding the mouth being a four-motion feed and operating to feed the sack-mouth only at the intervals when the needle is drawn therefrom, substantially as specified.

3. The filled-sack-sewing machine, consisting of a sewing mechanism and a feeding mechanism, the latter comprising a presserfoot and an intermittent feed acting on the sack-mouth, and a power-driven sack-conveyer, said conveyer and said intermittent feed having connecting mechanism operating to convey both the mouth and the body of the sack at the same mean rate of progress, substantially as specified.

t. The machine for sewing the mouth of filled sacks, consisting of a power-driven conveyer carrying the filled sack past the sowing mechanism, sewing mechanism provided with a four-motion feed device acting to feed the mouth at the same rate of progress as that of said conveyer, and means for operating said four-motion feed, said sewing mechanism also embodying a presser-foot and opposing casing, substantially as specified.

LEWIS E. CURTIS.

\Vitnesses:

EDMUND ADCOOK, H. M. MUNDAY.

IIO 

